Kai couldn’t understand what Anna spoke about.

Every instinct imprinted into him by every past violent memory of intimacy taught him that he was a battlefield. As a shark, he always had bloody and primal instincts.

He thought about Villis, about the rough hands, the blood, the violence of it all.

And he looked down at Anna. Anna, who was watching him with a soft and tender gaze, her gentle hands still on his chest.

She’s different. She was strong, but fragile at the same time. He knew that when she gave him Villis’ head like an offering.

She looked at him like he was a person. Not a test subject given to her to tinker with.

"Hey," her soft voice wrapped around him. She touched his cheek, smiling warmly at him. "Where have you gone to?"

Kai took her hand and kissed her inner wrist.

He wanted her. He wanted to sink into her, bury himself into her warmth until the world and every hurtful memory faded away.

But a terrifying thought paralyzed him. What if I lose control? What if I’m too rough with her?

Anna noticed Kai’s distant gaze. It was a look she was familiar with, the look of one consumed with thoughts.

Gently, she ran her fingertips over the rigid metal of the collar, stoping at the red stone. "Kai, I want this off." She whispered. He blinked and looked at her. "Before we do anything...I want this gone."

His throat bobber as he swallowed. Her words struck something inside him. Something he didn’t have a name for. He opened his mouth to answer and no words came out.

Instead, he leaned down and caught her lips in a kiss.

She responded immediately, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs closing around his waist.

The kiss started with no build up. Both of them hungry, desperate for a taste of each other. Anna moaned into his mouth, and the fragile restrained her maintained for hours shattered. He deepened the kiss, his tongue pushing into her mouth, turning the kiss messy and hot.

Her fingers tangled in his hair before her nails take down the skin of his back, drawing blood.

At the first whiff of blood, Kai’s primal instinct activated.

Bloodlust and hunger rushed through his veins, coupled with the sharp sting of pain, and the overwhelming feeling in his stomach. He pulled away form the kiss and before he knew what he was doing, he bit down hard into the soft curve of her shoulder.

"Ah!" Anna cried out, trembling under him.

The haze vanished from Kai’s head, the sound of her pain instantly breaking the spell. He recoiled, breathing hard, his eyes wide with terror as he stared at the red marks on her shoulder with blood beading around them.

"I’m sorry...fuck! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—"

I hurt her! His mind screamed. I’m just like him...I said I’d never and I...

"Kai,"

He braced himself. For her slap. For her coldness, for her to kick him off and profess how she hated him and never wanted to see him again.

Instead, she chuckled. "So you really like to bite, huh?"

He froze, completely bewildered. She didn’t look angry. Instead, a slightly dazed smile touched her lips and she looked at him from under her lashes.

"You’re not...angry?"

She shifted beneath him, shaking her head. "A little startled. But angry? No. Next time, ask me first before you bite."

Kai pulled himself off her and sat back. His brows furrowed and a dozen emotions filled his chest. "Why do you always say that?"

"Say what?"

"To ask. To check." Kai said, thinking back to the party. Their first kiss. The first time he’d choked her. How sick with worry he’d been but then she woke up and told him to ask her first. "Why do you always look for permission? We’re married. In this world, you’re my owner. You don’t need to ask for anything. You take what’s yours."

She sat up, her expression turning serious. "No, Kai. That is not true. Even if we’re married, it doesn’t delete the need for consent. I’m not your owner because you’re not an object. You’re a person. Your body belongs to you, and if we do anything it’s because we both wanted it to happen."

Kai stared at her like she was speaking a different language. His mind struggled to understand what she’d just said. It sounded unreal. Did such a thing happen?

"So...I can ask to kiss you? And touch you?" He asked.

She nodded. "If I want it, I’ll say yes."

"And what if you say no?"

"Then nothing happens," she explained, her voice incredibly gentle. "We stop. In the same vein, if I ask you for something and you say no, nothing happens."

"That’s insane! I can never say no to you!"

"Kai, you’re allowed to say no. Because you have a choice. And anyone who doesn’t respect that, is not a good person."

"But..." he looked away, his breath caught in his chest. He stared blankly at the sheets as her words echoed in his mind.

He never stopped when I said no.

"What?" Anna asked, leaning forward. "Did you say something?"

Kai didn’t realize he’d said that out loud. Instantly, the walls went back up. He snapped his head back to her, a blinding smile plastered across his face as he grabbed her waist and pulled her up so she was sitting on top of his lap.

"Nothing at all," he grinned. He gripped her hips tighter, pulling her closer so he could feel more of her warmth. "Just thinking about all you said. Permission. Is that how it worked in your old world?"

Anna didn’t reply.

Her heart sank.

She’d heard him. Even though his voice was low, her sensitive hearing caught the words. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He never stopped when I said no.

As she looked down at Kai’s smiling, beautiful face, a cold, sickening dread twisted in her stomach. A heavy weight of worry settled over her, the playful haze of the morning completely evaporating.

Her heart filled with righteous anger. Oh my god! Someone sexually abused my Kai.

"Kai," Anna called softly. "What did—"

[Ding! Host, I believe you have work to get started on.] the mechanical ding cut off Anna’s words.

"Right," she got to her feet and got out of bed. "Thank you, for last night."

"What are you thanking me for?" Kai sat up, his voice playful as usual.

Anna hugged herself, her back turned to him so he wouldn’t see the tears gathering in her eyes. "Everything," she whispered.

I need to know what happened. I need to know who hurt him. But how can I know?

****

Somewhere in the palace.

A hidden location.

Ray landed on the front door of Drax’s enclosure. The snake beastman was already waiting for him, his posture calm and composed, regal like a king.

"How long will you remain here?!" Ray grabbed the bars, his voice full of annoyance. "I know you can come out of here anytime you please. Why won’t you?"

Drax stared at him with cold mismatched eyes. "She doesn’t want me out yet," was all he said. A smile touched his lips and he tilted his head to the side, observing Ray closely. "Why are you so agitated?"

Ray wiped sweat off his brow and leaned back. He thought about everything that had happened. With Leon, with the incident at the inn, every single danger that Anna had been in.

"If you were out there, maybe half of this won’t happen."

Drax moved closer to the bars, his eyes shining with darkness. "What’s going on, Noctis? I don’t recall you being this ruffled."

Ray swallowed. Hearing his old name made terrible memories flood his mind. "Don’t try to change the topic."

"Oh, but we have to address that, don’t we? Is Leon the problem? Aren’t you capable of getting rid of him?"

"I don’t live that life anymore."

Drax smirked, his eyes narrowing as his pupils grew taller. "Lies. We both know those are lies and nothing more. You don’t need me to handle anything, Noctis. Take care of Leon yourself."

"It’s not that easy!"

"Why not? Because she habours affection for him?"

That stunned Ray. "Affection?"

"Yes."

"She does not have any affection for him! He tried to kill her!"

"And why is he still alive? If I’m not mistaken, she healed him from my poison. Isn’t that right?"

Ray didn’t know what to answer to that. He didn’t want to think about it much either. Why was Leon still alive?

Then he thought of Anna. Her kind eyes, her smiles, her thoughts that didn’t have an ounce of evil in them.

He didn’t know how to tell Drax that the Princess now wasn’t the same Princess as before. Ray knew how much Drax adored Princess Orchid. If he found out that she was dead and someone else was in her body....

Ray shuddered just thinking about the repercussions.

"I’ll handle it." He said through grit teeth. Drax gave a subtle nod before disappearing into the shadows.

Ray decided then, he must protect Anna’s secret. If nothing else, from Drax.